Sadiq Khan: The Government are today announcing that the Supporting People programme funding of £1.66 billion will be paid as a named unringfenced grant to administering authorities for 2009-10 and will be included in area-based grants from 2010-11. This is the largest single grant to authorities to help millions of people live independently in their homes and this means that authorities will have the flexibility to spend this money as they see fit to help some of the most vulnerable people in their communities.
	This year Government have been working with 15 administering authorities, providers, service users, and stakeholders to gather views and evidence about the potential impact of removing the ring fence for Supporting People. During this period, there have not been any serious concerns raised and the feedback from the 15 administering authorities has shown that the kinds of innovation they are delivering has been positive and is enabling the delivery of jointly commissioned services which provide better outcomes for service users.
	The transition to a non-ringfenced funding stream needs to be managed carefully and Government will continue to work with the sector and build on the success of the programme. Today Government are also announcing a number of measures to support the transition of delivery through an unringfenced grant which will include:
	A commitment to deliver a new financial modelling tool which will provide evidence at a local level on the financial benefits of investment in housing support in terms of crisis prevention and the reduced need for more intensive and costly interventions, leading to better outcomes for the citizen and savings to the public purse. The Department will be seeking tenders for this work before Christmas.
	The announcement of two national conferences jointly hosted by CLG, DH, the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services in January 2009 to help authorities and their commissioning partners learn from the Pathfinder project and consider how their own localities will respond to the changing agenda.
	A commitment that CLG will continue to work with member groups in the sector to support providers in responding to the new commissioning and procurement environment. This will include 18 regional roundtable events in early 2009 to bring commissioners and providers together to discuss planning for the future.
	Communities and Local Government are committed to working with the Office of Third Sector on promoting better commissioning practice, with a special focus on small third sector groups.
	The publication today of guidance on understanding regional need for housing related support. Copies will be placed in the Library of the House.
	Ongoing support from the Communities and Local Government regional resource teams to support local performance improvement on the commissioning and delivery of services—taking into account the work being undertaken by Government offices and the regional improvement and efficiency partnerships.

Sadiq Khan: I wish to inform the House about the progress of the FiReControl project, which will establish a linked network of highly resilient fire control rooms across England to replace the current stand-alone facilities.
	Major emergencies in recent years have shown us the very real challenges we face in today's world. The fire and rescue service is central to our ability to be able to respond to these and the Government are determined to support it by investing around £1 billion to ensure that it has the necessary capabilities and resilience. The FiReControl project is an important part of this investment.
	FiReControl will give all fire and rescue services access to systems and technology that only a few currently benefit from. It will result in greater resilience and collaboration, better information and incident support for firefighters, and a better service to the public—both-day to-day and during major incidents.
	The Government are investing £380 million in FiReControl and remains strongly committed to it. Good progress has been made on a number of fronts, including the completion of eight new highly resilient regional control centre buildings, the establishment of eight local authority controlled companies which bring together all relevant local partners, and the development of a strong network of regional project teams working to ensure the project is a success in their areas.
	However, FiReControl is a complex and demanding project and as such is subject to rigorous ongoing review. Since I took up my post as fire Minister a thorough review of all aspects of the FiReControl project has been completed, and a number of difficulties with the ICT and other dimensions of the project were identified. These issues will result in some delay, and the FRS rightly expects us to address these in full.
	As a result I can announce today that the project is now aiming to achieve cut-over to the first three regional control centres in the North East, East Midlands and South West in summer 2010—nine months later than previously expected, with the full system expected to be in place by spring 2012—five months later than originally planned. I want to emphasise however that, as with any project of this nature, we will only have certainty about the timing of these later stages of the project once earlier stages have been completed successfully.
	Our updated plans are being delivered in close partnership with the fire and rescue service, fire and rescue authorities and our suppliers, EADS Defence and Security Systems Ltd. Shorter-term milestones will be monitored very carefully and progress shared with our partners. Longer-term milestones will be reviewed as the project progresses. Members of the fire and rescue service are being given more opportunities to contribute to the development of the project so that they can have full
	confidence in the new systems being developed, with staff embedded in national and local project teams and playing a full part in joint working groups.
	I am also committed to ensuring transparency around the project wherever practical. So I am today publishing Part 2 of the 'FiReControl Business Case', and seeking views during a period of consultation. Part 1 of the business case was published on 8 July 2008 and was placed in the Library of the House. Part 2 will be placed in the Library of the House later today.

Andy Burnham: In June 2007, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Tessa Jowell), who was then the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced that the Government proposed to ask the BBC to make up to £14 million of licence fee funding available to assist Channel 4 with the capital costs of digital switchover. The announcement made clear that the assistance was subject to state aid approval from the European Commission and a formal notification seeking that approval was submitted to the Commission in October 2007.
	In March this year, the Commission opened a formal investigation procedure in respect of the notification. The Government submitted a response to the Commission, as did two interested third parties.
	In the period since the notification was made, the debate on the future of public service broadcasting in the UK has moved on significantly. Furthermore, the structural challenges that traditional commercially funded public service broadcasters face have been exacerbated by current cyclical conditions.
	The Government have therefore brought forward their timeline for decisions and are now committed to take a more comprehensive view on the future institutional and financial framework of public service broadcasting, including the future of Channel 4, early in 2009 within the framework of the Digital Britain project. The Digital Britain project was launched in October to look at innovation, investment and quality in the digital and communications sectors. The Digital Britain report will be a comprehensive analysis of the United Kingdom's digital economy and will bring forward proposals to support the development of these sectors.
	The emerging proposals are likely to be more wide-ranging than a proposition relating specifically to Channel 4's switchover costs. The Government will of course ensure that any new proposals for potential state aid arising from this wider consideration process are properly notified to the Commission in advance of implementation.
	Against this background the Government have decided against proceeding with the notified proposals to provide assistance for Channel 4 in respect of its switchover costs. The Government have accordingly informed the Commission that they wish to withdraw the current state aid notification.

Geoff Hoon: I am today publishing the Government Response to the King Review of Low-Carbon Cars. Copies of the report will be available in the Libraries of both Houses and a further copy of the report will be available on the Department for Transport website at www.dft.gov.uk
	The Government warmly welcomes Professor King's wide-ranging and comprehensive report, published in two parts in October 2007 and March 2008, which set out the technology options likely to contribute to decarbonising road transport. Professor King made a number of policy recommendations ensuring that Government, industry and research communities all contribute to reducing carbon emissions from cars. The response document describes how Government are taking forward Professor King's recommendations as part of our wider mission to tackle the climate change impacts of the transport sector.
	Professor King's report provides grounds for optimism that major reductions in road transport emissions can be achieved in ways that are technologically feasible, affordable and publicly acceptable.
	Professor King's recommendations have a particular emphasis on technology and removing barriers to behavioural change. There are various recommendations aimed at driving technology change through EU legislation and promoting the research, development or deployment of relevant technologies to reduce the impacts of vehicles throughout their life-cycle. We are working on all these areas with a view to seeing a new car fleet average of 100gCO2/km by 2020—a target that will require deployment of a range of technologies such as all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars that hold the promise of ultra-low carbon private transport.
	We intend to seize the opportunities a low-carbon transport sector represents, thereby helping to reduce the UK's emissions from domestic sources and contributing to meeting our greenhouse gas targets as set out in the Climate Change Bill 2008.